Memories of Tom Clancy, a man who enjoyed getting involved in variety of causes

This 2010 image released by G.P. Putnam Sons shows author Tom Clancy in Huntingtown, Md. Clancy, the bestselling author of "The Hunt for Red October" and other wildly successful technological thrillers, has died. He was 66. Penguin Group (USA) said Wednesday that Clancy died Tuesday in Baltimore. The publisher did not disclose a cause of death. (AP Photo/G.P. Putnam Sons, David Burnett)

Staff writer Rose Quinn interviewed best-selling author Tom Clancy 19 years ago. The man who wrote “Patriot Games” and “The Hunt for Red October” died Wednesday. Below is Quinn’s story, which appeared in the Daily Times on Aug. 16, 1994:

RADNOR — Celebrated thriller author Tom Clancy never minds lending his name to a cause he supports. He clearly considers it an honor.

Whether it involves children’s health, politics or baseball, Clancy said meeting people, “who for the most part are worth your time,” is the greatest benefit of his own stardom.

Having an ability to open doors is another.

A door to Hollywood intrigue cracked yesterday when Clancy, 47, mentioned that his name was omitted from the guest list for the premier of Clear and Present Danger, the blockbuster film version of Clancy’s bestselling novel.

The obligatory “How did that make you feel?” question went asked and answered without a word.

Clancy shrugged.

But discussions of such topics as his ninth and latest book, “Debt of Honor,” (Putnam, $25.95) which comes out tomorrow and continues the fictional saga of master spy Jack Ryan — not to mention his stumping for Helen Delich Bentley, Maryland Republican congresswoman and gubernatorial candidate, at a $500-a-plate luncheon in the Lincoln Room of the Radnor Hotel — would wait as details of a real Hollywood drama were about to unfold.

“I haven’t even seen it,” Clancy matter-of-factly said of the No. 1 film as of last Friday. “I had nothing to do with it.”

Clancy said that the next film based on one of his books, “Without Remorse”, will be produced by a different company. He also said that this time he worked closely with the screenwriter, a process he said was directed through computerized E-Mail. No roles have been cast, nor has a director been named, Clancy conceded, though his eyebrows arched at the mention of Academy Award winner Tom Hanks and his latest performance in Forrest Gump, which ranked third at the box office last week.

And look for Clancy to make a move to television in February, when a show he helped create, Op-Center, is scheduled to air during sweeps month.

Asked if he prefers television to the big screen, Clancy responded, “Ask me a year from now.”

Meanwhile, Clancy is the source behind The Kyle Foundation, named in honor of an 8-year-old boy and Clancy fan who died Aug. 1, 1991 from a form of cancer known as Ewings Sarcoma.

“He stole my heart,” said Clancy, who described the organization as a means to meet and entertain the kids electronically — à la the information superhighway.

“I had to do something,” Clancy said. “Being with Kyle was the best thing I’ve ever done.”

Clancy, who served as master of ceremonies when Bentley kicked off her campaign, said he happily drove from his home in Maryland to serve as the “entertainment” for Bentley’s fund-raiser, organized by U.S. Rep. Curt Weldon (R-7) and his finance director Charlie Sexton of Springfield. “She asked me to do it. As a friend, I did,” he said. “I think Helen is one hell of a lady. She knows her stuff.”

Sexton said Bentley and Tom Ridge in Pennsylvania are the two GOP candidates that have the best shot at winning as non-incumbents.

Added Sexton, “Wouldn’t it be great to have Republicans all around Pennsylvania?” Weldon said the event was expected to net $15,000 for the campaign.

Bentley said Clancy told her that it was her television show on the Ports of Maryland that got him interested in writing. She said she was flattered, but she was just as eager to discuss her plan “to turn Maryland around from an anti-business state to a pro-business state.”

Clancy, a former Maryland insurance agent, was 37 when he published his first thriller, “The Hunt for Red October”, a story of superpower intrigue involving nuclear submarines which former President Ronald Reagan described to a Time magazine reporter as the “perfect yarn.”

Clancy said he never minds interviews, as long as people “play by the rules.” He describes himself as a conservative Republican who might surprise even a few hard liners. He is Catholic, he smokes and he quotes Shakespeare. His birthday is April 12. He and his wife recently celebrated their silver anniversary. To this day he wonders how he would have ranked in a uniform. But asked how much Jack Ryan is Tom Clancy, he answers, “A lot.”